Politics

Kamala Harris just did what Donald Trump never could

Published

2 years ago

November 11, 2024

Kamala Harris just did what Donald Trump never could

The peaceful transfer of power is back, America.

During her concession speech at Howard University Wednesday afternoon, Vice President Kamala Harris brought back from the dead one of America’s most storied traditions: presidential candidates accepting the results of an electoral defeat, urging their supporters to do the same and promising to cooperate with the incoming administration.

However one feels about a second Trump presidency, Harris’ words are crucially important for the health of American democracy.

“Now, I know folks are feeling and experiencing a range of emotions right now,” Harris said. “I get it, but we must accept the results of this election. Earlier today, I spoke with President-elect Trump and congratulated him on his victory. I also told him that we will help him and his team with their transition, and that we will engage in a peaceful transfer of power.”

The mention of “President-elect Trump” generated a brief smattering of boos, which the vice president ignored. But the words “peaceful transfer of power” triggered cheers from her crestfallen supporters. That matters a lot.

However one feels about a second Trump presidency, Harris’ words are crucially important for the health of American democracy. To various degrees, 2024 will be the first generally accepted presidential election since George H.W. Bush decisively defeated Michael Dukakis in 1988.

tim waltz emotional politics political politician — Minn. Gov. Tim Walz becomes emotional as Vice President Kamala Harris speaks at her alma mater, Howard University, in Washington, DC., on Wednesday.Shuran Huang for BLN

A loud and prominent subset of Republicans never accepted the legitimacy of either of Bill Clinton’s elections because he never won an outright majority in the popular vote, mainly because third-party candidate Ross Perot took roughly 18.9% and 8.4% of the popular vote in 1992 and 1996.

Then came 2000, when George W. Bush lost the popular vote but won the Electoral College after the Supreme Court halted Florida’s recount with Bush ahead by 537 votes. Many Democrats never accepted Bush’s legitimacy after that, even when he won re-election in 2004, as a small group of Democrats insisted some vote-counting hanky panky in Ohio unfairly swung the Buckeye State to Bush.

Barack Obama was elected in a popular and electoral landslide in 2008, then handily re-elected in 2012. But a fake conspiracy theory alleging Obama’s foreign birth — a racist lie most prominently amplified by Trump — led millions of Americans to insist Obama’s two decisive victories were actually unconstitutional.

Then there was 2016, when Hillary Clinton lost a seemingly unlosable election to the political novice Trump amid evidence of Russian election interference. Many overwrought Democrats refused to accept the glaring failures of their nominee’s campaign and instead overhyped Trump and Vladimir Putin’s very real and nefarious connections into a fantasy of Trump as a “Manchurian candidate” puppet.

But in all of those elections, the vanquished opponent conceded. And, with the exception of Al Gore in 2000, they conceded quickly. (However, Gore’s eventual concession after the Supreme Court decision gracefully accepted the legitimacy of Bush’s presidency and called for unity among Americans.)

It was only in 2020, when Trump lost a close election — but decisively — that the 220-year-old tradition of peaceful transfer of power was broken. And it was broken for no good reason.

Trump spread lies made up of whole cloth about election fraud that were so baseless that they were rejected by GOP state officials, his own attorney general, his daughter Ivanka and by a Supreme Court with a 6-3 conservative majority (including three Trump appointees). He will now very likely escape prosecution for his attempts to overturn the 2020 election and inciting the Jan. 6, 2021, assault on the U.S. Capitol (and for illegally hoarding national security documents).

Someone had to make a gesture that the rhetorical war that is an election is now over.

In Harris’ case, after running a campaign that correctly made an issue out of the uniquely destructive force Trump has been to the American body politic — including testimonials from his own former Cabinet members that he’s an unhinged fascist — the vice president accepted the will of the people. Much as a defeated Sen. John McCain did in 2008 when he told his supporters that the failing was his and not theirs and called Obama “my president,” Harris made it clear that Trump will be her president — just as he will be for over 300 million Americans.

The fact that the words “peaceful transfer of power” generated applause among Harris’ supporters at Howard says something important about the state of America right now. A defeated Trump would never say those words; we know this because he didn’t when he was defeated. And his supporters would never applaud such a line because Trump convinced them of the big lie that “they” stole the 2020 election.

Someone had to make a gesture that the rhetorical war that is an election is now over. The loser has conceded, for the good of the country, even though the winner never would.

Anthony L. Fisher

Anthony L. Fisher is a senior editor and writer for BLN Daily. He was previously the senior opinion editor for The Daily Beast and a politics columnist for Business Insider.

Politics

Trump-backed Jay Feely wins GOP primary in Arizona’s battleground 1st District

Published

35 minutes ago

July 22, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

Former Arizona Cardinals kicker Jay Feely cruised to victory in Arizona’s 1st District on Tuesday, one of the nation’s most competitive battlegrounds.

Feely, a close ally of President Donald Trump, leveraged Trump’s endorsement to topple former state Rep. Joseph Chaplik.

He’ll face a steep challenge defeating the Democratic nominee in November: The 1st District, which spans the affluent suburbs north of Phoenix, is one of House Democrats’ top targets after Trump won it by just three points in 2024. Feely is looking to keep the seat under GOP control amid a midterm year that presents major headwinds for the party.

Politics

Rep. Andy Biggs wins GOP primary for Arizona governor

Published

35 minutes ago

July 22, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

Trump-endorsed Rep. Andy Biggs has won the GOP primary to face Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs in November, setting up a marquee governor’s race in one of America’s most competitive states.

Biggs, a former chair of the hardline House Freedom Caucus and a close ally of President Donald Trump, easily dealt with his only serious challenger, Rep. David Schweikert, on Tuesday. Before the primary results were official, he had already begun pivoting to the general election against Hobbs, who is seen as one of the most vulnerable Democratic governors this fall.

Republicans feel bullish about their odds of flipping the governorship, after Trump carried the state by five points in 2024. But even though Trump won last time, the state has gradually shifted to pure tossup territory over the past few years, electing Democrats to both Senate seats, as well as the attorney general and secretary of state’s offices.

Hobbs had already shifted her focus to Biggs as well. Her campaign has amassed a significant warchest for the race and has already started running ads. Biggs, given his lack of a significant primary challenge, has been able to hold onto more cash than his GOP rivals, but is still behind Hobbs.

The race will test whether Republicans, who are starting down a potentially bruising midterm cycle, can reclaim the top office of a state that has long been a place of success for the party.

During the Republican primary debate, Biggs spent more time talking about his working relationship with House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and Arizona Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly than he did flexing his endorsement from Trump or highlighting his House record, including his time atop the Freedom Caucus. Instead, he tried to refocus on his bipartisanship in Congress and his leadership in the state legislature.

“I know how to reach across the aisle,” Biggs said during the debate.

But he will still have to contend with many of his past stances, including his role in trying to overturn the 2020 election.

And Hobbs is already working to ensure voters know where Biggs stands on key issues as a longtime member of the House, including his anti-abortion positions and his role in 2020. Her campaign has repeatedly attacked him as “too extreme” for the state and has dubbed him “basement Biggs” for keeping a relatively low profile throughout the GOP primary.

Politics

Trump-backed Mark Lamb wins Arizona House primary despite sex scandals

Published

35 minutes ago

July 22, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

A scandal-plagued House candidate powered by President Donald Trump’s endorsement won a messy primary Tuesday.

Mark Lamb, the former Pinal County sheriff, overcame a late push from self-funding candidate Daniel Keenan in Arizona’s 5th District. Lamb will enter November as the heavy frontrunner in the deep-red Phoenix-area district to replace Rep. Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.), who is running for governor.

Keenan had poured nearly $2 million of his own cash into the campaign and attempted to make Lamb’s alleged sexual misconduct and abuse of power central to the race. Lamb has denied the allegations.

But Lamb — bolstered by Trump and Arizona-based Turning Point USA — managed to ward off the attacks.

The race’s outcome reveals the strength of Trump’s endorsement, and it’s the latest example of how willing GOP primary voters have been to accept scandal-ridden candidates favored by the president.

Lamb, who served as sheriff until 2024, earned national notoriety as a gun-toting critic of the Biden administration’s immigration and border policy. He secured Trump’s backing for the 5th District contest last year.

Then in May, the Arizona Republic launched a multi-part investigation alleging that Lamb engaged in a yearslong pattern of sending sexual images and instigating intimate encounters between him, his wife and others. One woman involved, Jillian Stannard, accused Lamb of encouraging her husband to have sex with other women, including Lamb’s wife. She also alleged that Lamb threatened her, saying there would be consequences, when Stannard raised concerns to religious leaders.

Screenshots the Republic obtained of messages with another woman, Tammy Peacock, suggest Lamb — then a sitting county sheriff — threatened to leverage Arizona’s revenge porn law against her.

In a statement last week, Lamb spokesperson Ed Morabito told Blue Light News that “these allegations are false and come from long-discredited political opponents.”

Lamb did not lose any significant endorsements in the wake of the scandals — Trump reinforced his endorsement in mid-July — even as Keenan made the allegations central to his campaign.